Summer Fun

It was so nice to have a 3-Day weekend. Joel's Aunt/Uncle and their 2 kids stayed at our house and left Monday. My former college roommate came on Saturday and we took our kids to the Zoo. Saturday evening, more friends from college joined us (along with their daughter) and Joel and the kids and I went to eat and play at the Amazing Pizza Machine! It was fun. And loud. :) Now that I'm in the "baby stage" again, I notice the noise more...Mckenzie hadn't had much of a nap all day (other than 15 minutes in her stroller at the Zoo) so she was due to sleep and finally caught some zzz's while I watched Joel and P ride the go-carts. The track is really neat and I'm pretty sure that it was the highlight of P's evening.

Sunday was church and then lunch over at Joel's parents, where we spent the afternoon. Sunday night was church again and then home to put the kids to bed.

On Monday we had a cookout at our house complete with yummy sides and homemade icecream! Joel's Aunt & Uncle worked hard at making vanilla and I made peaches & cream. It's ok, but not near as "peachy" as I thought it would be. Next time=More peaches!

After lunch, the guys set to work on putting together our (new to us) swingset! I was blessed to be informed of a free swingset, so I jumped on that offer. :) P has been enjoying playing on it by himself and with the neighbor kids. It won't be long before Mckenzie will be joining him. Joel took some pics of the kids that I have to post:


A special thanks to everyone that helped set up the swingset: Grandpa W. and Grandpa S., and Uncles Seth, Tim, and Paul. These guys had the playset assembled in 2 hours! I was impressed. :)

Dancing Baby

Joel took a video of Mckenzie tonight. Girl loves to dance! Her moves are better than any bobblehead doll I've ever seen.

The Curse of the Hula Hoop

My Mom and I bought a hula hoop and arm hoops at a health fair. The waist hoop is a weighted, padded hula hoop that is supposed to help strengthen your core and help to LOSE INCHES. I was excited to try it out. Hooping for only 10 minutes a day promised major health benefits...and I was ready to reap the rewards. I started out small. After doing only 4 minutes, I quit. The following evening, my back went out! Yikes. Thursday morning (2 weeks ago) I almost threw-up and then felt like passing out in the shower. I then realized that it was from the pain of trying to stand up straight! Joel worked from home for the morning and then my Mom came down in the afternoon to help me get to the chiropractor. Lifting Mckenzie was my biggest obstacle! I literally could not LIFT her out of bed, or her highchair, or off of the floor. I couldn't stand up straight and got around the house by CRAWLING. All of this to say that I'll never again take for granted a pain-free body! My back is a lot better now (several chiropractic visits later)...and I don't really have a lot of pain anymore. Based on my x-rays, my chiropractor said I was vulnerable to injury, and this was the "straw that broke the camel's back." Haha! Ahem...I called the woman who sold us the hoops and she said she'd never heard of this happening before. She suggested that I try hooping again when I'm pain free. She said that for her, the hula hoop strengthened her core so much that she didn't need a chiropractor anymore. I'm a little gun-shy now though and thinking that the hula hoop and me? We're not good friends.

The most ironic part is that my Mom confiscated the hoop from me because she didn't want me to hurt myself again. And then her back went out! She hadn't even used the hoop yet...so I figured this was the "curse of the hoop". Hmm...Even my Dad had back trouble within days of her taking in the hoop, so I think we can attribute that to the hoop curse as well.

Here's a little video of the kids outside. P is getting pretty good at riding his bike (with training wheels on for now). I can't believe that my baby will be ONE in a couple weeks! We're leaving for vacation soon so I've got to get her Birthday party planned before then. :)

"Annie" (1982) - Tomorrow

I love this movie...and this song! Helps put things in perspective. :)

Teething Trials

So, Mckenzie is teething. She has 3 teeth, with the 4th one popping through on top. This *might* be the source of her irritation (which would be strange, considering the other 3 didn't give her near as many fits!) Monday night, I got home from Bible study and went into check on my baby before heading to bed. Then I realized her room smelled a bit "funny" so I went in to get the 4 diapers off her changing table. They seem to accumulate there quite rapidly! Well, Mckenzie must not have been sleeping very sound...because she woke up, and started crying. I nursed her thinking she'd just go right back down to sleep, but no! She was up until 12:40am! :( Ever since then, she's been doing the "mad-cry" and being very easily calmed down like normal...I'm not sure what happened to my happy baby! Is this *just* teeth? Is it early Mommy-separation anxiety? Something else? Ugh...I wish she could just tell me what's bothering her!

I think breastfeeding Mckenzie is my kryptonite. I don't understand why...but often times when I feed her, it feels like she is sucking the life right out of me! Zapping my strength. Making me SO. TIRED. I never felt like that with P-man (that I remember!) This is a strange and unusual sensation that makes me want to collapse into a heap on the floor. And not get up until morning! :)

Happy Easter!

We had a blessed day. This morning's message was about redemption. A perfect Easter message! I'm so thankful that Jesus sacrificed His own life on the cross so that I may have life ETERNAL. His resurrection means everything to me!

After church, we went to my parents' house for a wonderful feast. Then we filled plastic eggs with candy and colored hard-boiled eggs. I asked Joel about the significance of "Easter eggs". He said that an egg has always represented "new life". I love that! :) While I'm not sure where the "hunting" of Easter eggs came from...I want my children to KNOW most of all about the new life they can have through Christ!

It was a beautiful day for an egg hunt! 65 and SUNNY. I have great memories of egg-hunting in the backyard, as a kid. There was always a surprise or two. One year it was a sea-pony. :) Those were fun bath-tub toys that squirted water! Another year it was a shirt. Anyhow, now that my Sister and I have our own kids, it's so neat to be the ones hiding the eggs and candy and helping the kids on their quest to fill their bags or baskets. Such fun!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Fitness Motivation

Today I joined myfitnesspal.com...You can track your food & fitness on this online program. The site tells you how many calories you can consume each day and how much you need to work out each week to lose pounds! I'm excited to track my progress on the site. The fun part is that if you have friends that join the site, you can cheer each other on because you see if the other person is keeping on track, etc. :)

I didn't have this much trouble getting motivated after P was born, that's for sure...This time around has been so different! Hopefully this online program helps. If any of you lovely blog readers want an invite to be "friends" on myfitnesspal, just leave a comment or shoot me a message.

We're supposed to have some wonderful sunshine here today! I'm hoping to get the kiddos out to enjoy it!!